Chelsea will look to extend their unbeaten run when they take on Newcastle United at Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon.

Guus Hiddink is yet to taste defeat in any of his nine games since coming in as interim manager – although six of those matches have been draws so the Dutchman is keen to start turning them into victories.

The Blues are still languishing down in 13th place in the Premier League after Diego Costa salvaged a point against Manchester United last weekend so they desperately need a win to get themselves back in the top half of the table.

However, with the top four now beyond them, the Chelsea players may be forgiven for having one eye on their Champions League clash with Paris Saint Germain on Tuesday night.

That will give Newcastle confidence they can get a positive result tomorrow and the Magpies have taken more points off Chelsea than any other team over the last five seasons so Steve McClaren will be hoping to continue that run this weekend.

And they could certainly do with taking something back to the north-east as Newcastle head in to the game sitting 17th in the table and just a single point above the relegation zone.

Team news

Chelsea will be without Kurt Zouma after the defender was ruled out for six months with a serious knee injury that he suffered last weekend. Gary Cahill is therefore expected to come in and partner John Terry at the back.

Diego Costa broke his nose in training on Thursday and Hiddink will make a late decision over his involvement, but the striker is expected to be passed fit to play but will wear a protective face mask.

Loic Remy is still nursing a calf injury and Radamel Falcao is out with a long-standing thigh injury, while Alexandre Pato is still lacking match fitness so won’t be included in the squad just yet.

Newcastle expect Jack Colback to be available after he returned to training following a hamstring injury while Emmanuel Riviere could also be back in the squad after overcoming a knee problem.

Likely Line-Ups

Predicted Score

Chelsea 2-1 Newcastle: The Blues have little left to play for in the league other than pride but I still expect them to put in a decent shift tomorrow. They are playing with much more confidence under Hiddink and while Newcastle have a decent record against Chelsea, I still fancy the home side to edge this one.

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